The torqued silhouette of the new Art Gallery of Alberta may at first glance seem out of place among the blocky towers of downtown Edmonton. But the museum, designed by Los Angeles architect Randall Stout, actually embraces the province’s long summer days and epic winters. The 100-foot-high stainless steel ribbon that slithers around the building recalls the shimmering northern lights, and where it meets the glass atrium it traps ice in beautiful sunlit patterns—the “snow cone,” staffers call it.